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Halberdiers
|build_cost = |num_figures = |moves = |melee = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = }} Halberdiers is the name of a Normal Unit Archetype. It is a template defining the baseline attributes and abilities of 10 Normal Units, all of which are called "Halberdiers". Each of these is a variant of the basic Halberdiers archetype, and is produced by a different Race. The archetype is discussed in this article, and each variant has its own, separate page. Halberdiers may be built by any race except the Barbarians, Halflings, High Men and Nomads. The High Men and Nomads, however, have access to a more powerful archetype called "Pikemen". Halberdiers are designed for front-line combat. Halberdiers have a strong Melee Attack as well as a respectable Defense score, at least as far as Normal Units go. Different variants of Halberdiers may have different advantages, but overall this unit is used for both attack and defense during the mid-early game, and highly-Experienced Halberdiers will form the core (i.e. the expendable front-line force) of most armies during the remainder of the game. Description Halberdiers are a large group of soldiers carrying halberds. The halberd is essentially a long pole tipped with some combination of axe and spear head. This weapon was specifically designed to fight cavalry: the troops line up, point their pikes forward, and thus dissuade enemy cavalry from making any direct charge. Once close-combat is engaged, a pointy tooth at the back of the halberd head is used for pulling horsemen off their horses, whereupon the can be hacked to pieces. The halberd is a fairly-recent invention, maturing only during the late medieval period and early renaissance. A slew of similar weapons, each with its own configuration for the blade and tip, were developed in separate places and times around Europe. The term "Halberd" is often colloquially used for many of these weapons. Baseline Properties The following section describe only the "baseline" properties of the Halberdiers archetype. Most of the actual units produced will have innate racial bonuses that deviate from this baseline template. Read the section on racial variants below for more information. Attributes and Abilities To produce Halberdiers, a town must have an Armory. The baseline production cost is per unit. Once under your employ, a Halberdiers unit requires an Upkeep Cost of and each turn. A Halberdiers unit contains by default. Halberdiers have a Melee Attack of strength per , which can be expected to deliver on average. Overall, this attack is pretty much the "median" amongst Normal Units, and can thus serve as a good base for comparison. It is primarily useful against other Normal Units, but may be strong enough to damage low-tier Fantastic Units. Halberdiers have a Defense score of - again roughly median for Normal Units. With per figure, they cannot be expected to survive for long during combat, but should be able to stand toe-to-toe with enemy Normal Units. The Halberdiers' score, unfortunately, does not provide much protection from enemy spells. Basic Tactics Halberdiers are the core troops of any army that relies on Normal Units. They provide a great balance between cost and effectiveness, and so are often produced on a large scale once they become available. On the battlefield, the tactics concerning Halberdiers cannot be simpler: they just advance to meet and engage the enemy. If possible, several units of Halberdiers and/or weaker Melee units (Spearmen, Swordsmen) will try to gang up on a single enemy unit, bring it down, and move to the next one. There is rarely any other option. The different racial variants may have different advantages to be exploited, but will overall be used in much the same way as all other Halberdiers. Halberdiers are also quite cheap for their relative effectiveness, and as a result may be suitable as garrison troops. Of course, masses of Halberdiers can form a strong assault force instead, at least during the earlier portion of the game. Accompany them with Ranged Attack troops if possible. Variants 10 out of the 14 different Races have access to their own Halberdiers units. Each Race produces a different type of Halberdiers unit, which not only looks different but may also have different properties compared to the "baseline" template described above. List of Variants Gnoll Halberdiers :Gnoll Halberdiers have a significantly stronger Melee Attack, which makes them more dangerous during hand-to-hand combat. They are still as fragile as other Halberdiers, and should not be expected to survive heavy combat - but will inflict much more damage while doing so. They are capable of effectively engaging low-tier Fantastic Units. :Also, Gnoll Halberdiers possess the Negate First Strike ability, which allows them to confront enemy cavalry charges much better than the "baseline" Halberdiers. Gnoll Halberdiers should therefore be used to intercept enemy cavalry and protect Ranged Attack units from cavalry. High Elf Halberdiers :High Elf Halberdiers possess a racial bonus, which allows them to deliver a little more damage with each attack. This makes them more dangerous than the "baseline" Halberdiers template, especially as they gain more Experience Levels. :Furthermore, High Elf Halberdiers have a higher score, which protects them somewhat from enemy spells and Special Attacks. They also have the Forester ability, which means that they spend only 1 Movement Point on entering Forest tiles - but this normally has no effect on their overland speed since they only have 1 Movement Point to spend each turn anyway. :For these advantages, the High Elf Halberdiers cost 50% more than the "baseline" template, and have an Upkeep Cost of per turn. Klackon Halberdiers :Klackon Halberdiers receive a racial bonus, which makes them very durable against weak attacks. Thus, they can go up against enemy low-tier Normal Units with little fear, and will generally survive longer in battle. They also have , which makes them a little bit harder to harm with enemy spells and Special Attacks. :On the downside, Klackon Halberdiers cost twice as much to produce than the "baseline" Halberdiers, and have a slightly higher Upkeep Cost. Fortunately, Klackons have higher rates than other races, though not enough to completely make up for the increased costs. Lizardmen Halberdiers :Lizardmen Halberdiers are significantly hardier than the "baseline" Halberdiers, with and per figure. This allows them to survive much longer during combat, especially when fighting enemy Normal Units. :As with all other Lizardmen units, Lizardmen Halberdiers are capable of at a rate of per turn. This enables them to move across Oceans, protecting overseas assets and carrying out wars on other continents. :Finally, Lizardmen Halberdiers possess the Negate First Strike ability, which allows them to confront enemy cavalry charges much better than the "baseline" Halberdiers. Lizardmen Halberdiers should therefore be used to intercept enemy cavalry and protect Ranged Attack units from cavalry. Orc Halberdiers :Identical to baseline template (see above). Beastmen Halberdiers :Beastmen Halberdiers are more dangerous than the "baseline" template, thanks to an innate bonus and per figure. In other words, they both inflict more damage with their attacks and will last longer during combat. They also possess , making them a little bit harder to affect with enemy spells and Special Attacks. :Beastmen Halberdiers cost twice as much as the "baseline" Halberdiers, and have a slightly higher Upkeep Cost. This is a fair price to pay for their augmented capabilities. Dark Elf Halberdiers :Dark Elf Halberdiers cost a whopping 2.5 times more to produce than the "baseline" Halberdiers, and have an Upkeep Cost of per turn. However, they make up for this thanks to the common racial benefit of Dark Elf troops: the ability to make s. :Dark Elf Halberdiers can use this attack up to 4 times per battle. This attack has an initial strength of only per Halberdier, but will improve fairly well with Experience. As a , it does not suffer from distance penalties, and thus can be expended early in the fight before the Dark Elf Halberdiers' advance. :On top of this, Dark Elf Halberdiers are quite to enemy spells and various ill effects. Draconian Halberdiers :Draconian Halberdiers have many racial advantages, making them some of the best Halberdiers available. Their biggest advantage is their ability and speed, which allows them to easily reach and attack any target. :Flying also prevents most enemy units from attacking the Draconian Halberdiers, allowing the Draconians to pick and choose their targets. This is extremely important, since when making a voluntary Melee Attack against any target, the Draconian Halberdiers unleash a Fire Breath attack of strength per figure, which can kill off a few enemy figures straight away before they can retaliate. :Furthermore, Draconian Halberdiers are much more durable in combat thanks to higher and scores. They should be able to last a little longer than other Halberdiers, particularly when faced with enemy low-tier Normal Units. :Of course this does not come without a price: Draconian Halberdiers cost 2.5 times more to produce than the "baseline" Halberdiers. This means that a Draconian empire will take longer to produce a large group of these. Upkeep Costs are also slightly higher compared to the baseline. Dwarf Halberdiers :The Dwarf Halberdiers' primary advantage is their high per figure, which allows them to stay in good shape even during heavy combat. They aren't stronger than other Halberdiers, but have more time to make repeated attacks and possibly win through sheer attrition. Dwarf Halberdiers also possess a very high score, which makes them very hard to affect with enemy spells and Special Attacks. :Dwarf Halberdiers also possess the Mountaineer ability, which should allow them and their entire stack to move quickly through Mountains, Hills and Volcanoes - but this normally has no effect due to their slow default movement speed. :Dwarf Halberdiers cost 2.5 times more to produce than the "baseline" Halberdiers template. Fortunately, Dwarves also have somewhat-higher rates than other races, though not enough to balance out this high cost. Still, Dwarf Halberdiers can be expected to survive longer, thus justifying the increased costs. Note also that Dwarf Halberdiers have a higher Upkeep Cost than other Halberdiers. Troll Halberdiers :Troll Halberdiers are both the strongest and most expensive type of Halberdiers in the game. Each Troll Halberdier possesses , and has the ability to Regenerate. This not only massively increases their staying power, but also means that the unit may be fully healed or even restored to life after successful combat! Trolls will often produce massive armies of Troll Halberdiers which can be nigh-unstoppable well into the mid-game. :On top of this, Troll Halberdiers have a much-stronger attack than other Halberdiers, at . Unfortunately, to balance this out, the unit contains only and so is roughly as strong as other Halberdiers in terms of overall damage output. :Troll Halberdiers possess the Negate First Strike ability, which allows them to confront enemy cavalry charges much better than the "baseline" Halberdiers. Troll Halberdiers should therefore be used to intercept enemy cavalry and protect Ranged Attack units from cavalry. :Finally, Troll Halberdiers also possess a higher score, which protects them fairly well from enemy spells and Special Attacks. :For all of these advantages, the Troll Halberdiers unit is 3 times more expensive to produce than the "baseline" Halberdiers, essentially slowing down the rate at which Troll empires can expand even when their Halberdiers become available. Troll Halberdiers also have the highest Upkeep Cost of all Halberdiers, at per turn. Category:Normal Units Category:Normal Unit Archetypes Category:Halberdiers